The present invention relates to furniture assemblies and in particular to seating units which may be disassembled for transportation and storage.
Furniture items are normally bulky, cumbersome goods that demand a large area for transportation, storage and display. The relatively large amount of space required for most furniture items greatly increases the expense and handling difficulties associated with the distribution of these goods. Heretofore, furniture manufacturers have attempted to reduce these problems by the construction of furniture which is foldable or may be disassembled during transportation or storage. Although alleviating handling problems to some degree, previous folding or "knock-down" furniture designs present problems not present in other furniture pieces.
One problem common to most folding furniture, such as folding chairs or the like, is that when set up the furniture presents a relatively inexpensive and obviously impermanent appearance. More preferable from an aesthetic point of view is furniture that has a solid, permanent look when displayed and used. For this reason, although folding furniture is often used to handle large groups on specific occasions, folding chairs and the like are generally unsatisfactory as a permanent house or patio furnishing. On the other hand, furnishings which can be disassembled or "knocked-down" for storage and later reassembled may provide a desirable solid, permanent appearance. The difficulty with such furnishings is that in order to obtain this permanent appearance, a complex or difficult assembly procedure is normally required. Essentially, a consumer is required to construct the furniture item himself from separate elements and is often required to use various tools on the fasteners connecting the elements. Due to the aversion many consumers have to complex assembly procedures, a furniture distributor is often required to assemble the furniture prior to sale.
One common use for such folding or knock-down furniture is as lawn or patio furniture. In such an application, it is highly desirable that the furniture be both lightweight and inexpensive. For this reason such furniture has often been made from tubular aluminum frames with interlaced webbing that forms the seat and back. In addition to the problems of complex assembly and an overall "cheap" appearance, these aluminum frames are also readily bent or damaged.
It has been proposed heretofore to utilize extruded plastic pipe for the structural components of such knock-down furniture. The resultant furniture articles have been, generally speaking, very satisfactory from both an aesthetic and structural standpoint. Assembly procedures, however, have been relatively complicated at best. Prior attempts to simplify these procedures have generally resulted in increased manufacturing costs.